Gary Neville says talk of Jose Mourinho being finished is ‘nonsense’ as he calls for Manchester United to back the manager

Back him

The former defender rubbishes the suggestion that the Old Trafford days at the top are over

Manchester United must back manager Jose Mourinho, Gary Neville believes.

It has been a turbulent start to the season for the boss, who has overseen two defeats in the first four Premier League games and has already seen former Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane linked with his job.

However, Mourinho’s time has not gone, the former Old Trafford defender says.

Mourinho won the Europa League in his first season

“I always remember something Tony Adams said to me at Euro ’96 and I took these words with me through my career,” Neville told The Times.

“I asked him what was the worst mistake and he said, ‘Gary, if you are in football long enough you will know tough times when your confidence goes, you make mistakes, everyone writes you off. Expect it.’

“Even Sir Alex Ferguson, from 2003 to 2006 when we didn’t win the league and people said he had lost it, end of an era, he’s finished.

“I think Jose is a brilliant manager and, in a 25-year career, young managers will emerge, people will ask questions if you aren’t successful. He’s having a more difficult time, but finished? I genuinely think that’s a nonsense.”

Jose Mourinho has been in an argumentative mood for most of the summer and new season

Since being appointed in 2016, Mourinho has won the League Cup and Europa League to add to an impressive haul of silverware at Porto, Chelsea, Inter and Real Madrid.

When it was put to Neville that the manager’s public outbursts can have a negative effect, Neville revealed he’d recently watched Brian Clough give talkSPORT’s John Motson an uncomfortable interview when the late manager was in charge at Nottingham Forest.

“It’s the best ten minutes of TV I’ve seen,” Neville said. “Clough calls Motson an idiot, he’s contemptuous, he’s aggressive like you wouldn’t believe. And we all think he’s a genius.”